This invention relates generally to poultry feeders and, more particularly, to poultry feeders adjustable to feed younger poultry on an ad libitum basis and somewhat older poultry on a restricted amount basis.
Modern feeding operations for chickens may house more than one hundred thousand individuals in a common or intermixed area. Automated feeding systems are used which employ conveyance means for delivering feed to a plurality of feeders. Each of the feeders typically serve approximately ten to one hundred individuals.
Feeding regimens provide an unlimited amount of feed to newly hatched chicks for rapid early growth and development. As the chicks mature, the feeding regimen may be changed, particularly if the chickens being raised are intended for egg production, to provide only a restricted amount of feed at intervals spaced by many hours. The chickens are usually quite hungry and anxious to eat when feed is next made available. As a result, when the conveyance machinery starts, the noise associated therewith alerts the chickens of the delivery of feed whereupon they scurry to the feeders and compete for feeding space and the limited amount of feed. Conventional feeders have limitations which make the interval between feedings greater than 24 hours in typical applications.
It is, accordingly, important to provide a sufficient number of feeders that efficiently control the delivery of feed to supply simultaneous feeding space for all individuals in the housing facility. The feeders should be adaptable to provide unlimited feed for younger chicks and restricted regimens for more mature chickens without requiring replacement of the feeders as the chickens mature. Feed wastage should also be limited for efficiency in both the ad libitum and restricted modes of feeding.